Something new today

Well, mixed stuff.

Yesterday, as I was expecting actually, except for running around shopping and actually managing to varnish a few pieces, the rest of the day was kind of lost. The fact that it rained contributed a lot. See, rain raises my pain level. I can't take pain pills and drive, so when I have to go out driving myself, it's bare raw pain. Combine that with the rainy weather, and by the time I got back home I was in a lot of pain.
I took half a pill (I almost never take a full prescribed dose, just enough to make the pain bearable) but that was not enough to stop back muscle spasming. So I had to take a muscle relaxer. It just kept raining. Unfortunately muscle relaxers make me sleepy. Oh joy, huh.
So the rest of the afternoon and evening were spent dozing on and off.
As a result I woke up at 3 am.
Since 4 am (after the required amount of coffee lol) I've been fighting with my printer. See, because of my condition, in order to avoid having to go to the post office and wait in line, I have an account with usps and I just use the "click to ship" service. Very convenient, I just pay online using my paypal account, I get the labels, print them, USPS sends you priority mail boxes for free, so I just have to tape the label on the box and schedule a pick-up during normal delivery hours.
But of course, that means that I have to PRINT the label. And my printer decided that it wants to call quits and refuses to connect to the wifi network.
I've updated every bit of software, restarted the laptop, printer, gateway more times than I slept in the last week. Still nothing.
It's 7 am and I'm still trying to connect the printer. I feel like in a little bit I'll just take it to the street and smash it on the asphalt. The thing is, I just spent money to buy an ink cartridge lol

Anyway. I did get yesterday pretty much all the clay I need (at least for now) and I took advantage of the 30% discount at Hobby Lobby.
So definitely today you will see a tutorial. If not for the stupid printer it would probably have been taped by now and me in the process of editing it and  making it ready for download. Sigh.

And another frustration - the same guy who warned me a week ago about someone copying me on youtube wrote to me again, about someone else copying me and showing off as their own invention. On this one I'm not amazed either, I've caught her before trying to present Donna Kato's techniques as her own, and not only that, she does things wrong so people will learn how to do things wrong. Looks like a subscriber buyer if you ask me. Once I get my ducks in a row with everything I might actually go watch the whole video - only watched bits and pieces but enough to see that the guy was right, she did just a slight twist and "she invented it". I'll probably report this to youtube. I am getting sick and tired of people doing this. Again, I do not mind people following my techniques, doing new things from them, but for goodness' sakes, give credit when credit is due, don't try to stomp on someone else's shoulders so you can look taller when you're as tiny as a gnome!

Will update or post later.

August 1st

One of my best friends posted today "August 1 may be the day of new searches. It's up to us which road we'll follow. There's an old saying "measure seven times, cut once", so it would be good if we think well what we say and what we do."

It's the beginning of the end. Of summer, what did you think? The change of color in nature, we start seeing  more yellow and rust and the fall flowers will start blooming soon. So probably our creations will slowly change color patterns. Did you notice that? If you go look at most artists' work, you will see the change, following the seasons. It's something that is in the subconscious.

Anyway. IF (and only IF) I manage to do a tutorial today it will be either a very short one (maybe the caterpillar?) or part 1 of the color theory tutorial, because it's mostly narrated and I decided to make it on the laptop, so I don't have to sit up in a chair while editing it.

But I have a fairly busy day - as usual, before noon, because I have to do as much as I can before the potential narcoleptic stage of my days kicks in.

Let me see: 

1. get to the post office to mail the packages for the winners of the 1,000 subscribers contest (I know, it's been almost a couple of weeks, but budget)
2. get to Hobby Lobby - not just for buying the chain to finish the "clay with me" black and white piece but also it's a 30% off on polymer clay week so I have to take advantage of that.
3. a little grocery shopping - as I decided to go back on low carb diet for a while, just to make sure that it's not the carb thing that brought on these fatigue/narcolepsy spells. The three years I've been on low carb I felt so full of energy that I was really active despite the chronic pain issue. My body has been so messed up by chemo that it's very possible that is the culprit.
4. a few pieces that need sanded, varnished, put together. 

So that's quite a bit of driving around, and because I can't take pain medicine and drive, it's quite a bit of driving around in pain. That makes me more tired than normal.  

So that I do give you some useful information too, not just my daily woes.

Excellent information on what gauge of wire to use for what pieces of jewelry

Nice mokume gane tutorial in images. If you'd accept my color advice though: 1. the dark green I would use a 1:1 mix of jungle green and green Premo; 2 the lighter green I'd use the Wasabi Premo (or Souffle Pistacchio) 3. I'd only use one yellow, the Souffle canary (or a mix of 1:1 Premo white and yellow) 4. I would eliminate the silver/granite pearl completely. Try it

Uploading.

Ok, first tutorial finished is already uploading. Now I'm wrapping up the second - need to put things together, as they're finally baked, varnished and dried - then I'll finish editing and I'll upload two more. The next two will be about "Bargello-ed canes" and "Ancient brocade effect using 'hidden magic' technique".

Also started to work on the second paid tutorial (I called it "the butterfly effect") and continue to work on the raku one.

I hate it when these episodes hold me back and make me be behind my schedule.

In other news. I got 3 new colors of pearl-ex -thrilled about that; finally managed to get a more decent texture sheet, not a big one, just the Celtic designs of Lisa Pavelka. Waiting for gold and silver sheet to arrive in the mail and also some foils. And I didn't even start on moving the store on facebook.
So much to do so little time.

Here's today tutorial. Well, hopefully just the first.